At the Molecular Bio-Prospection department, the research activities are aimed at ‘Bioprospecting natural resources for novel genes, bioactive molecules and value added products for the better health and life’. The focus is on finding the solutions for drug resistant infections (bacterial, fungi, and malaria parasite) and metabolic disorders like hepatoprotection, inflammation, immunomodulation, cancer etc. The efforts are also directed towards finding the safety limits of herbal preparations/products.

Some of the achievements of the department over the last few years are

(i) Development of a novel plant system as biosensor for detecting the bioactive molecules and environmental hazards through distinct responses.

(ii) Novel molecule ‘Oenostacin’ from Oenothera biennis, which is active against vancomycin resistant strains of Staphylococcus spp. (VRSA)

(iii) Identification of novel anti-tuberculosis agents from Curcuma longa and Curcuma amada.

(iv) Genetic screen of bacterial and fungal with knocked out or suppressed function for screening phytochemicals as antimicrobials, bioavailability enhancer of antibiotic, vitamins and anticancer drugs.

(v) Niaziridin a new nitrile glycoside from Moringa oleifera.

(vi) Glycyrrhizin form Glycyrrhiza glabra.

(vii) Lysergol from Ipomea muricata.

(viii) Indian Traditional Knowledge based formulation coded as “IVT-15” for Rheumatoid Arthritis.

(ix) Mechanism of action of hepatoprotective molecule ‘CLIV-92’ earlier isolated from Cleome viscosa.

The Analytical Chemistry Department research activities are focused for the isolation of chemical/bioactive marker compounds and development of chromatographic/molecular methods for quality assurance of specific chemotypic herbs and herbal formulations.

The department also works on the areas dealing with isolation and characterization of phytochemicals, method development for quality analysis of natural molecules and also taking care of the advanced training on chromatographic/spectroscopic techniques and sophisticated analytical instrument management systems.

It also serves as the Institute’s Central Analytical Instrumentation Facility for medicinal and aromatic chemical compositional measurements by both invasive and non-invasive techniques to support various inter-disciplinary researches and provide measurement for quality analysis of essential oil and natural products. The scientists of the department have publications in SCI indexed journals, patents and awards of reputed National and International Agencies.             

Medicinal Chemistry Department of CIMAP is well recognized nationally and internationally for its excellent research. The scientists of the department are extremely well qualified, and motivated with a strong commitment to research. The research in medicinal chemistry department includes: activity guided isolation and characterization of bioactive natural products/drug leads; QSAR and docking guided drug designing / lead optimization; development of novel preparative / large scale isolation process for phytomolecules / drug leads and chemical finger printing of new released aromatic plants varieties of CIMAP, new introduced or less investigated aromatic plants of India. The major research programs are interdisciplinary (chemistry-bioinformatics-biology) linked. The main focus of research is to carry out semi-synthetic modification of natural products into compounds having potential anticancer, immunostimulants, hepatoprotective, antimalarial, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities.

The department has a very conducive environment for both study and research. The students pursuing doctoral research have the option for Ph. D. degree registration either from AcSIR or from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. The department has all essential capabilities and instrumentation to carry out research in the emerging mission areas of drug development and industrial partnering. With substantial funding from government and industrially sponsored projects, our research interests are multidisciplinary focused on diverse topics such as Medicinal chemistry, Natural product chemistry, Synthetic chemistry and Process chemistry.